Qatar Thursday called for the Gaza peace plan to move into its second phase without delay, including a full Israeli withdrawal, an international stabilisation force and territory-wide reconstruction, as a UN agency warned that the enclave's economy has suffered the most severe collapse on record.
Speaking at a high-level roundtable on early recovery in Gaza on the sidelines of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly in New York, Her Excellency Minister of State for International Co-operation Maryam bint Ali bin Nasser al-Misnad said Qatar is continuing its mediation with Egypt, Turkiye and the US to fully implement the comprehensive peace plan and its roadmap, in line with UN Security Council Resolution 2803.
Setting out Qatar's own contribution, she said Doha had supplied Gaza with about 30mn litres of fuel over the past three years and had recently signed an agreement with the UN to provide a further 1.3mn litres. She said fuel remains vital to keeping essential civil services running, and that early recovery cannot be separated from the urgent humanitarian needs of Palestinians.
She added that Qatar's humanitarian work also covers healthcare and other pressing public health needs, noting that the HH the Father Amir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani Hospital for Rehabilitation and Prosthetics in Gaza serves tens of thousands of patients and people with disabilities.
The minister stressed the importance of maintaining the ceasefire and of meeting all outstanding obligations under the plan's first phase. These include the immediate, safe and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid and early recovery supplies, and the rehabilitation of vital infrastructure in the Strip.
She described the roadmap as an integral part of the peace plan and said it provides the framework for moving to the second phase. That phase covers dismantling military capabilities alongside a full Israeli withdrawal, deploying an international stabilisation force, enabling the National Committee for the Management of the Gaza Strip to assume its responsibilities across the territory, and launching early recovery and reconstruction throughout Gaza.
She urged all parties to meet their obligations in good faith and without delay, saying tangible progress on the ground is essential to ease Palestinian suffering and to create the conditions for sustainable recovery and lasting peace.
The minister said Qatar is ready to keep working with its partners, including the UN, the Peace Council, the Palestinian Authority and all concerned parties, to advance recovery and reconstruction and to support a just, lasting and comprehensive peace.
She said recovery and reconstruction must ultimately help reunify the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, with the Gaza Strip, and establish a credible, irreversible path to Palestinian self-determination and an independent state.
Her remarks came as the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said Gaza is facing the world's worst economic crisis on record. The agency reported that nine in 10 businesses have been destroyed and more than 90% of the working-age population is unemployed.
"The collapse of the economy of Gaza is the world's most severe economic crisis on record," UNCTAD acting secretary-general Pedro Manuel Moreno told reporters in Geneva as the agency released a new report. "It has wiped out decades of development and generated an acute economic crisis for its people."
The report said 92% of Gaza's economic establishments have been damaged or destroyed. Daily per capita GDP has fallen to $0.58, and prices are 274% higher than in 2022.
Israel's military offensive killed more than 73,000 people, according to the territory's health ministry, whose figures the UN regards as reliable. The offensive displaced almost the entire population of two million and damaged or destroyed most buildings before a patchy ceasefire was announced in October 2025.
"Before October 2023, two out of three Gazans were poor. Today, everyone in Gaza is multidimensionally poor," said Mutasim Elagraa, UNCTAD's co-ordinator for assistance to the Palestinians.
He said industrial activity and agricultural production have fallen by 94%, and only 1.5% of arable land is accessible, forcing "total dependence on humanitarian food aid".
